Catechist Know-How May 2007

Leading by Example

This year at our parish, we decided to do something new at our First Communion Retreat.  We included the Confirmation Class!  We are running the two retreats at the same time and will have the younger children work with the older ones during the retreats.

We were searching for ways to help the Confirmation Candidates to recognize their new roles as, well, role models.  Hoping to remind the older students the importance of the Mass and especially the Eucharist in their lives  we are having them put on a skit for the younger kids on the proper way to receive the Eucharist.  The older children will also attend the sacrament of Reconciliation at the same time the younger ones will.  The two groups will support and encourage each other.  They will be living examples of the Body of Christ to each other.

In the past, we have tried other ways to bring the older and younger students together.  Some of these have included:

•       The older youth group students put on the Living Stations of the Cross and invite the younger children to attend. This year the stations are being done in silhouette and it will be an awe inspiring thing for the younger children (and for me). It captures their attention and draws them closer to the Mystery of Christ's death and resurrection.

•       Having the Confirmation Candidates and the First Communicants pair up as prayer partners. They pray for and with each other, send each other notes of encouragement, and when possible, attend the sacraments together.

•       The teens have assisted as classroom aids during Faith Formation and as teachers and aids during Vacation Bible School. Seeing the teens' faith in action inspires the younger kids and they make close connections and form strong relationships.

•       To further continue these relationships, some of our college-age former youth group members have become sponsors for our Confirmation Candidates.

In our family, we have been blessed to see this cycle come full circle.  A young woman who asked me to be her Confirmation sponsor many years ago, became my daughter's sponsor just a few years ago.  The young woman has a daughter of her own now and I wonder if this beautiful circle may continue in the future.

We are all one in the Body.  We can strengthen these bonds by encouraging the older students to share their time, talents, and love for the Lord with the younger ones.  In return, the younger students seem to infuse the older ones with a fresh perspective and new love for their faith.

Mary Lou Rosien was a teacher's aid for her sister's First Communion Class the year she made her Confirmation.  Thirty years later, she teaches Confirmation class at St. Leo's in Hilton, NY including two of her seven children.  She is the author of Managing Stress with the Help of Your Catholic Faith (OSV, 2006).